2016’s Paralympics Has Record Number of Out Competitors

This year’s Paralympic games has a record number of competitors who are out of the closet, making the Rio Olympics a very good one indeed for LGBT people.

As you may recall, we also saw records broken for the main Rio Olympics event, which saw 42 out competitors in the event. As for the Paralympics, that will have total of nine out athletes competing.

It would have originally been ten, but sadly Great Britain’s Claire Harvey had to pull out due to a hand injury.

Also, the Equestrian rider Lee Pearson will also be making history for Great Britain as well as LGBT people, as he will be the first openly gay person to carry the flag for the country at an opening ceremony for Olympics or Paralympics.

Lee Pearson

Lee said: “To vote a gay bloke to be in this position is a massive honour. This is probably the biggest honour of my career. I’m so proud of my fellow athletes. What an amazing nation to have – we’ve got so many diverse characters, different religions and races.”

“Maybe they didn’t give it any thought about the fact I am gay. And, if so, that means we’ve moved on even further when people don’t give it any thought. I don’t want them to think: ‘Oh, he’s a gay bloke, let’s give him a chance.’”

Let’s take a look at the list of all the openly gay athletes for the Paralympic Games. Have you followed us onFacebook and Twitter?